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Two presentations were given to the JCCDCWG on 1st September 2023.
South Tees Site High Level View of Risks, Contamination and Development
A recording of the first “South Tees Site High Level View of Risks, Contamination and Development” is embedded below:
Links on the slides presented sources of diagrams used:
- Slides 7-16: South Tees Site Regeneration Masterplan
Teesworks Dredging of the River Tees
A recording of the second “Teesworks Dredging of the Tees” is embedded below:
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Capital dredging of the River Tees requires digging into layers of historical contamination. For this reason one specific area of the riverbed that Teesworks required dredging to construct the South Bank Quay had to dredged without any of the dredged material escaping into the wider Tees. The Marine License (MLA/2020/00506) required that this area be dredged with a closed bucket dredger. Sadly the bucket used was not closed and the highly contaminated material from the xclusion zone was able to spread into the River Tees.
The River Tees has been used for over 150 years by the industries which lined the river to dispose of a wide range of highly toxic chemicals. So dredging into the toxic dump which is the river bed should only be carried with extreme care. I would argue that as it is impossible to locate all the contaminants as many of them such as coal tars are highly localised, so extreme caution means that capital dredging will cause contamination. As such instead of capital dredging any removal of material should be carried out using cofferdams which ensure no material removed is able to be
travel into the river. Similarly the material should not be disposed of at sea, but instead taken to land for decontamination.
The presentation is based on returns supplied to the Marine Management Organisation by Royal HaskoningDHV in collaboration with Graham PLC and on behalf of Teesworks UK as part of MLA/2020/00506/2. The specific note about the returns is here - MLA/2020/00506-2 Condition 5.2.11 - Note
The numerical data is in this spreadsheet - MLA/2020/00506-2 Condition Note 5.2.11 - spreadsheet
More Information
To have a look at a number of stories published about the environmental hazards of the South Tees Site and its development, have a look at Tees Valley Monitor and North East Bylines.
You can find details of previous and upcoming meetings on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's website, including documents shared at the meetings.
The Crab Die Off and Teesworks puts the risks in the context of the crab die-off and the investigations into it.